WALKER BUILDING - 6516-20 Walker Street

T.B. Walker built his two-story brick Walker Building across
the street from the Hamilton Building at 6516 Walker Street
starting in 1888 and completing it in 1892. The Walker
Building was also known as the Syndicate Building and later
the Manufacturer’s Agents Building. Together the Walker and
Hamilton Buildings were known as the Brick Block.

A huge fire hit the Walker Building early on February 3,
1917, reported the Minneapolis Tribune. It
started at the meat market of A.M. Shields.
The blaze was discovered by Dan Saara, who ran a rooming
house on the second floor of the Walker Building that housed
100 men who worked at the Monitor Drill. The report
says "Because of a high east wind, hope of saving the
building was abandoned early, and all efforts were turned
toward preventing a spread of the flames. An engine
company was called from Minneapolis, but they got stuck in
the snow three miles away. The firemen walked the rest
of the way and gave what assistance they could. After
the fire the building was rebuilt, but the eastern section
was only built back to one story.

One curious note from the Commercial Club minutes
of July 1917 indicates that Mr. Gorham (presumably the
manager of the building) refused to put in heat or toilets
in the upstairs of the Walker building.

The building was
sold at auction on September 24, 1942 for $10,100. E.C. Ruble of
Willmar bought the large two story section of the building
for $7,000. The one story section was purchased for
$3,100 by J.K. Seirup. Another one story separate
building was purchased by developer Douglas Rees for $600.

The Walker Building still stands today as a functioning
office building on Walker Street. It was last sold in
November 1999 for $382,500.

BUSINESSES OF THE WALKER BUILDING

Like the Hamilton building, businesses came and went, and
moved from one building to the other. Storefronts
housed such concerns as:

Doc Brown's barber shop and pool hall (1904 to
1907 and again from 1910 to 1942)

Swenson and Redeen Grocery Store (1923 until
1948 when it moved to the Hamilton Bldg.)

The American Legion met on the second floor of the
Walker Building until its own building was built on
Excelsior Blvd.

The Wilson Rubber Packing Co. ("a war project") was
a tenant in 1942 before it became Minnesota Rubber.

There was even a small moving picture
house operated by Jake Werner and Eric Liljenfors in 1915-1917.
The men never resumed business after the fire.

The fire department was located at the Walker Building until
the 1907 fire when it moved to Monitor Drill.

Park Woolen Mill (October 1953)

In one memoir there was a chicken hatchery on Walker
Street

In about 1934 the east wing of the Brick Block
(which building?) was used as a school for 7th graders.

Park Press was advertised in the Echo in September
1950: Headquarters for School Supplies. The
address was 6516. It was also at 6516 in the 1951
directory. In 1954-55 Park Press was listed
in the Echowan at 3406 Louisiana (now Library
Lane), and
then in 1962 back at the Walker Building.

The Dutch Mill Dairy Bar advertised in the 1950 and 1951
Echo
at 6518 Walker St. It featured ice cream, lunches,
dairy products, cold drinks, and candy.

The Spoolie Curler Co. was at 6520 in 1959.

Pierre Lenmark Co., 1961

Wonderalls children's clothing company was started
in 1946 by St. Louis Park mothers Mabel Elstrom and Ruth
Pauly. They began production in a garage and moved
to the Walker Building where they had 40 machines
operating. In 1950 the business was purchased by a
Twin Cities group and in 1953 the plant was moved
downtown (although the photo below taken in 1955 shows
the name of the company on the building). In 1954
an additional factory was opened in Buffalo, Minnesota.
By 1956 the company employed 150 people.

This information comes from a variety of sources: newspapers, books, yearbooks, phone directories, interviews, etc. Given the varied sources, we cannot guarantee that all of this information is correct, and welcome any additions and corrections. Please contact us with your contributions and comments.